The Japanese space tech start-up ispace is building its lunar lander at ArianeGroup´s German facility in Lampoldhausen, the company said. A crew of assembly specialists from ispace has settled in at the site, and activities are underway, ArianeGroup said.

At a time where space tourism is on the rise, the European Space Agency (ESA) engaged with the World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) to work on rules for a sustainable development of the emerging sector. ESA and WTFL have signed an agreement to advance a sustainable innovation for the travel

The British watchdog Ofcom wants to tighten the rules that govern satellite mega-constellations, Bloomberg reported. Satellite systems would be checked in the U.K. for whether they risk degrading other services, and if they could harm competition, Bloomberg said.

Rocket Lab has opened a launch window for U.S. Space Force`s Monolith mission for 29 July, the company said. Rocket Lab aims at launching the Air Force Research Laboratory-sponsored demonstration satellite called Monolith into low Earth orbit (LEO) on its Electron rocket from its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and OHB will cooperate to boost commercial Earth Observation services, the agency said. Φ-lab, the Division in the Future Systems Department of the EO (Earth Observation) Programmes Directorate of ESA, and OHB Systems AG agreed to examine together "transformational technologies" to benefit the end-users of the commercial EO market, ESA said.

The German aerospace startup Polaris signed a four-month €250,000 contract with the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) to examine applications of its Aurora spaceplane for military observation missions, the company said. The contract allows for testing and validating the potentials of the reusable Aurora spaceplane in defense activities

Astroscale works with Mitsubishi on active debris removal and projects for improving space environmental protection, the Japanese company said. The collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will leverage Astroscale’s on-orbit servicing technologies and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ launch vehicle manufacturing and launch services capabilities.

NASA has selected SpaceX for launching its first mission to explore one of Jupiter’s 79 moons, Europa, with a total contract award amount of $178 million, NASA said. The Europa Clipper mission will launch an orbiter around the gas giant in October 2024, from the Kennedy Space Centre’s Launch Complex 39A on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

Eumetsat, Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, extends its ocean and atmosphere monitoring and becomes the largest operator of Copernicus’ Sentinel satellite missions. The European Commission signed the Copernicus.2 contract with Eumetsat, a €735 million, seven-year agreement to entrust the agency with the operation and exploitation of Sentinel.

The launch service provider Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has successfully tested its staged combustion engine and thus marked the entry of the first European player in this technology segment, the company said. RFA’s eight-second engine test was conducted in Kiruna, Sweden, the company said.